10 Great Fourth Grade Apps You Need Now

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Fourth grade’s the year that the learning curve heats up! Kids graduate from rote reading to complex story comprehension, tackle multiple math operations and learn about new worlds to explore. To help you help your 4th grader succeed, Education.com has assembled an awesome collection of the best fourth grade apps, including our favorite reading and math apps for 4th graders. Check out these picks for learning tools guaranteed to stimulate interest and encourage independent thinking.

Click on an item in the set below to see more info.

Toontastic

Storytelling is a tried-and-true way of sparking creativity and building an understanding of story elements such as set-up, conflict, challenge, climax and resolution.

With Toontastic, kids are presented a detailed explanation of what makes a good story using a step-by-step guide to create cartoons.

Project Noah

Has your child ever seen a red-tailed hawk, or wondered at an electric jellyfish? This app plugs in to an ongoing global scientific project that allows you to explore and share information about the natural world.

"NOAH" stands for Networked Organisms and Habitats. Unlike electronic educational tools that trap kids indoors, NOAH forces young naturalists into the great outdoors.

Rainbow Sentences

Understanding how to write a complete sentence is a struggle for many children. Rainbow Sentences calls in color to help kids get a better grasp on the different elements of a sentence and how they come together.

This is an intuitive, beautifully designed app that's completely customizable to fit a child's needs. Positive word placement reinforcement is encouraged verbally, and color-coding highlights parts of a sentence for visual learners.

World Atlas by National Geographic

The world is at your fingertips with this visually stunning and information-dense geography tool, featuring a virtual globe with a choice of 3 different views—executive, classic or satellite.

Little explorers will be awe-struck by the impressive resolution and level of detail. Navigation is a breeze; simply pinch and swipe to zoom and find places of interest, or tap the home button to return the full globe screen.

Stack the States

Build a stack of states while you collect a pile of knowledge! Identify states by their shapes, state flags, landmarks, capitals and major cities to move along in this game. Each correct answer gives you a state for you to use as a building block, which you carefully place into a steady stack that won't topple over.

This app's educational value is high; kids who didn't know any state's shapes or cities will become quite knowledgeable in little time, and the chance to unlock mini games is an effective motivation tool to keep playing. This is especially important with an app teaching geography, which some kids would consider dry and boring.

Luckily, there's also some cute animation and beautiful backgrounds to make the experience easy on the eyes.

Crazy Machines

The mad scientist in charge of this crazy lab might give Einstein a run for his money!

Players start by solving simple tasks and participating in experiments, so they can get a grasp of concepts like propulsion or momentum. Logic puzzles are this app’s bread and butter, but it also introduces simple physics concepts. There’s much to love about this app, which celebrates imagination and creativity.

Gesundheit!

This adorably disgusting app teaches complex logic and strategy, and even sneaks in a positive message about diversity.

Welcome to life as a little green pig. You’re icky and sticky and the other pigs don't want to play with you. But your "outcast" character is the only one that can save the day—by completing a maze before monsters destroy you. Your secret weapon? Snot.

Planets

The phrase "a window on the world" has never been truer than in this breathtaking astronomy app that lets budding astronauts wander through real-time views of the solar system, moons, stars, and more.

With the universe in the palm of their hands, little stargazers can pinch, zoom and tap their way around the galaxy; choose from Sky 2D or 3D, Infrared Sky, Radio Waves, X-Rays and more view options.

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Fractions App

Fractions are a tough skill to master; help kids get a real feel for fractions as they tap and break apart shapes to solve equations in this interactive app.

The tactile aspects of this tool will draw kids in as well—touch a circle and it breaks apart into ½, ¾, or whatever the problem calls for. Reluctant mathematicians will appreciate the hands-on application of a dry skill.

Manic Math

The pressure's on! This supercharged math game is a fast-paced drill disguised as a classic arcade-style game that kids won't be able to stop playing.

The name of the game is to review basic math facts in reverse: the clock starts, and players are given an “objective” number as a series of other numbers and operations rain from the top of the screen. Your mission: find as many factors and/or solve for as many variables as you can before the clock runs out!